The Princess and her Knight
by vendetta543
Summary: A story which has its roots from the Karin side-stories. Princess Marianne was sure of it: She loved Karin and no one else. It didn't matter how long it took and how hard the effort would be - She would make Karin hers. No matter what.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey-o! I've just finished reading up on the "Karin Side-stories" and I have to say that I actually find it more impressive than the main novels: No harem antics, actual political intrigue, more focus on things like Vampires and Undead etc etc. Anyway, the plot basically boils down to Karin 'The Heavy Wind' (Then 14 or 15) disguising herself as a male**** to try and become a Knight. After much stupid antics, she and her little group of knights get hired to be Princess Marianne's (Henrietta's mother) guard. Given that Karin is REALLY pretty for a guy, Marianne's immediately smitten and decides she wants a forbidden romance...despite just being 13 years old :/**

**To finish this up, Karin obviously reciprocates very little since she's straight and doesn't want to see what will happen if a knight in her station romances the princess of the kingdom. This fic is an expansion of that.  
**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Princess Marianne sighed. She'd been doing that a lot lately, usually as a coping mechanism to deal with her boredom. Another day in the palace, another day of hearing her fathers attempt at politics now that his second in command, Estashu, had revealed himself to be a traitor. Ever since then he had promised himself that he would handle his subjects care personally rather than delegating.

Unfortunately, not delegating was **boring**.

She did her best not to slouch in her seat. Her father had invited - No, rather he actually begged her - to accompany him since he felt nervous. Yes, the War Hero who fought against ten-to-one odds and won with barely any casualties was scared of screwing up and needed his thirteen year old daughter for emotional support. Marianne loved her father very much, especially so since he took time to care for her despite his duties, but she couldn't help but feel that the image of the war hero scratching his head at assigning how much money went where contradicted all that she knew of her beloved father.

"Excuse me, Your Highness. We must discuss the allocation of the treasury's reserve funds. Now I believe-"

Her eyes glazed over as another one of her fathers subjects - The royal treasurer, if she remembered correctly - started rambling about agricultural expenses. Really, what was she doing here? This wasn't the first time she sat on the throne to look pretty, but usually those were when she was supposed to look for a Fiancee. Now she was expected to keep quiet and not look like she was nearly falling asleep.

Which she was. Very much so.

A fiancee...her mind wandered at the thought. She would have to get married soon; she probably had about four years to go before she was married to some influential noble about ten years her senior. She frowned at the thought. She wanted to marry out of love, to dance in the middle of a ball while everyone watched them, to watch their five kids (She was planning to name the eldest Henrietta) grow up and then live happy and content to old age. Was that so much to ask?

But she knew that was impossible. 'Princesses have a duty to their kingdom', her father would say. She would marry a man she didn't care for and smile as he cheated on her with someone he actually loved. Such was the life of a princess. They had no fairy tale endings, no knights in shining armor who saved them and earned their hand in marriage. She had no happily ever after.

And yet, this didn't stop her from dreaming. She closed her eyes slightly as the discussion continued. There was only one man she loved, one person that stirred warmth in her heart: Karin Desiree de Maillart. Her cheeks unintentionally reddened at the thought of him. Karin, the knight who had captured her heart and her affection. She had expected him to like all the rest; to be entranced by her beauty at first sight and heap compliments on her like a man possessed. But he wasn't - He had kept a respectful distance while promising to always protect her. Her heart fluttered as she remembered the kiss they shared at the inn, under the warmth of the candlelight.

...Okay, so he just kissed her in the forehead and left. But a girl could dream, right?

She was snapped out of her imagination by her father's call, "Marianne? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" She blinked before standing up straight in her throne, "Um, yes father! Forgive me, I was simply thinking of what the treasurer had discussed."

"The treasurer? My dear, I didn't realize you were so into agriculture that you would think so hard about the issue. Tell me, what did you find so intriguing that you would continue to think about the issue nearly an hour after he left?" He chuckled. He had already caught his daughter nearly falling asleep several times in this hour alone.

Nearly an hour? She pursed her lips and tried to keep her surprise hidden. Time seemed to fly when she thought of him, of the time they spent together. He was a knight now, no longer her guard. She suppressed the frown that threatened to overtake her lips. And just like that she had begun to see him less and less. She sneaked out of the castle on her own at times, hoping to catch him in town. But no matter where she looked, how many times she passed by the barracks or the shops, she always seemed to miss him.

"Well, we only have one visitor left before we can relax. I believe you remember him."

The double doors to the throne room opened and she felt her heart skip a beat, "Your Majesty, I apologize for the delay," It was Karin! Her knight stepped forward formally before bowing down to one knee, "The extermination of the Orc nest in the fishing village of Ordonne was a success, but we were unable to get there before the bulk of the Orc warband escaped to the north. Do we have your permission to go after them?"

Marianne couldn't stop staring at him. The sleeveless blue coat and leather gloves, the white dress shirt and shorts that exposed the skin of his slender arms and thighs, the dark stockings and high heeled boots that covered the rest of his lower body. And of course his long pink hair, comparable in length to her own hair, tied into a high ponytail - Truly, he was the epitome of masculinity. She couldn't stop the lovestruck smile that made its way to her face. He hadn't changed at all, and she never wanted him to.

"No, you have done your assigned task," King Phillip III stroked his beard in thought, "I will send a hunting party and oversee it myself. We cannot have more of our villages fall prey to this band of roving monsters."

Karin said nothing and nodded mutely, though Marianne could see the slight smile that twitched into his face. Typical of her father, she supposed: He was a warrior and a general, not a politician. He didn't know how much to allocate to the academia, but he was fully capable of destroying a threat. She had no doubt that those Orcs were doomed now.

"That said, I have another task for you," Karin craned his neck up quickly, "Eager I see. Do not worry, this task isn't too taxing. In fact, I believe you have experience in it already," Her father stood up and looked down at Karin, "Without me here, I fear for my daughter's life. She is the sole heir of the royal family and Estashu's betrayal worries me. There may be others who wish to take advantage of the kingdom's disarray and plunge us into chaos. Karin, I wish for you to safeguard my daughter while I am away. Can you do that?"

"Of course, your majesty," Karin stood up and placed his right hand against his heart, "I promise on my life that no harm will befall the princess and that I will protect her to my very last breath. I swear on my honor as a knight and as a citizen of the great kingdom of Tristain."

If she was alone right now, Marianne would have squealed. Karin was to be her guard? She placed both hands in front of her mouth to mask the wide smile that she now sported. No, it wouldn't do for her to act so immature. Knights fell in love with people who were mature, right? She couldn't act like a child, at least not in front of him.

"Good, good." The king clapped him on the shoulder gently, "My daughter's life is in your hands now, Karin. I'm trusting you to keep her safe no matter the trials you may face."

Her father left soon after that. He had told them that he would need to pack for supplies and organize the counter-offensive. Marianne was ecstatic, quickly dragging Karin to the gardens at the back of the palace. It was their special place: It was where the two of them - and that Centurion man, but who cared about him? - sneaked out of the palace from. She had hoped to talk to him in private here.

"It...It has been a long time, Karin," She started, twiddling her hands nervously. The two of them were currently sitting together in the stone bench and across from them was the pond the royal designers built. She watched as the setting sun reflected on the water's surface. Wasn't this romantic? She certainly liked to think so. It was one of the reasons she chose this place.

"It has only been a week, princess," Karin smiled all the same. He enjoyed the princesses company; it made for a fine escape from the antics of her fellow knights, "How have you been? I apologize for not asking sooner. Many assignments were passed my way ever since I received an official knighthood." Even a week later he still couldn't believe it. He had fainted from shock and happiness the first time, which Marianne supposed was because he had finally achieved his dream. Not many made their claim to knighthood by exposing a traitor, after all.

"I know, but I missed you..." Karin remained silent as Marianne intertwined her hands with his, "When you were nearly executed, I didn't know what I was going to do. But you didn't. You survived and now you're a knight," She placed her head on his shoulder, "But even still, you're protecting me now. It must be such a bother to you, right? You're finally a knight and you still have to watch over me."

"Of course not!" He denied immediately, "I may no longer be part of your official guard, but did I not promise to protect you? If you need my help, I'll always be there."

Marianne giggled. That was the response she expected to hear; she knew there was a reason she continued to love him, "Well, enough of my ramblings. Should we not enjoy the view? The setting sun is beautiful at this time."

"Yes, it is beautiful," She waited a moment, but it became quite obvious that Karin wasn't going to say anything. She puffed her cheeks and scooted closer to him. Wasn't he supposed to say 'But the princess is even more beautiful'?

"Karin-"

"Princess, we have talked about this before," He interrupted, "I cannot return your affections. I am a lowly knight and you are the heir to the kingdom. You told me yourself that you knew what would happen once you grew up. Please, don't act this way. It will only hurt us both in the end."

"I don't care about that!" Karin's eyes widened in surprise. The princess was rarely angry, "My father wishes me to marry, but shouldn't I be able to choose who I love? Who I spend the rest of my life with? I do not wish to be wed to a noble who I will never love. I love you, no one else! Even if it hurts me, I will never change how I feel about you!"

"Princess...we cannot be together," Karin looked away. He had more than one reason for not being with her.

"Is it because of our positions?" Tears threatened to leak from her blue irises, "It doesn't matter to me. Perhaps I could convince my father for him to allow me to marry you?" Karin felt a weight add to his shoulders. She was talking about marriage now? This was escalating quickly, "If that fails, we could elope together! Just the two of us, unbound from the chains of nobility and royalty.

Wasn't she asking for his opinion? He had just gotten his knighthood. Eloping would kind of ruin all that.

"Princess-"

Marianne closed her eyes and puckered her lips: She was expecting a kiss. Karin backed away and surveyed the area quickly - If anyone had spotted what the princess planned to do, that was the end for the both of them. His knighthood would be stripped from him, the princess would be shamed for daring to fraternize with someone below her station, and he would be right back to where he started.

"Please, just grant me this one thing," She whispered. A conflicted look covered Karin's face before he decided his next action.

The young chevalier kissed her in the forehead before quickly turning to leave. He needed to get away now, to clear his head. Marianne watched him leave before a hand made its way to her forehead, "Just like the night at the inn..." She lowered her hand and clenched it into a fist. She wasn't going to give up. Karin would be hers, no matter what her father or anyone else said. A maiden in love was stronger than any magic.

Unfortunately, she wasn't privy to the secret he held inside his heart. The secret that would change their relationship forever if it was exposed.

Karin was female.

* * *

The door to the barracks slammed open.

"The princess is in love with me."

Of all the things they expected Karin to say, that had to have been the last thing they would ever expect. All three males looked at Karin and then at one another before turning back to their card game, "Hey, didn't you three hear me!" Centurion sighed and folded his cards on the table. This new 'poker' game they imported from the east was so complicated. So if he was right: Numbers were the lowest, followed by Jack, Queen, King, and then finally ace. He looked at his cards and sighed. All he had were a pair of seven's.

"Hey, folding already, Centurion?" Barkus taunted lightly, practically grinning as he looked at his cards, "Guess you're gonna be treating us all at the bar tonight!" The ash-haired knight threw him a glare before standing up from the table. He needed another drink, particularly something strong.

"Now, now, don't forget that you still have me as an opponent," Rancis interjected, ruffling his frilly purple shirt confidently, "Once I win this round, you're going to take me to that new place you keep mentioning. What was it called? The Enchanting Nymphs? I heard that place is expensive," He grinned, "I hope you're prepared to lose your pay for the whole month!"

"Hah, you're on!"

Pierre 'Centurion' Valliere, Rancis de Gramont and Barkus de Grandple - A drunk, a pervert and an idiot. These three were her fellow knights and, as much as she hated to admit it at times, the three people she could consider her closest friends. All three of them had willingly tried to sacrifice their lives for her and she owed them more than she could ever hope to repay. They didn't even know her secret and yet it wouldn't have surprised her if they stuck by her regardless.

"Two Aces! You're taking me to that place tonight!"

"Double or nothing!"

That didn't stop them from being a pack of morons, though.

Karin sighed and rubbed her head. She was going to get a headache at this rate, "Hey, didn't you three hear me? I said the princess is in love with me," She called out again.

"We heard you the first time," Barkus picked up the deck and began to pick off two cards for his deck, "But that's not really something new, right? The princess invited you to her room back when we were at the inn. Hell, the entire kingdom pretty much knows that the princess has a crush on you. Why do you think everyone was fighting to be the one to service you back in the broth-:

"Say another word and prepare to lose your dignity," Karin interrupted, her face rapidly reddening at the mention of the damnable place she had been dragged to. She nearly had her identity exposed and all her work tarnished. And for what? Because those two idiots thought what she needed to cheer her up was paid intercourse with women who likely had a few diseases on them.

"All we're saying is that its not new," Rancis interrupted, looking down at his cards with a smile. He was going to win, "Besides, why are you so worried? Most guys would kill to have Princess Marianne fall in love with them. Her beauty is unmatched by any other rose in this kingdom and she still has much room to mature," Karin didn't miss the connotations of his last word, "And yet here you are complaining like you've been cursed."

"You idiot," She chopped him in the back of the head lightly, "I'm a knight and she's a princess. She would be dishonored and I would be stripped of my rank," And that wasn't even getting into the fact that she didn't exactly seek out romantic relations with those of the same gender as her. Yes, she dressed herself up as a male in order to join the knights, but that didn't mean her sexuality had changed.

"The princess is really serious about you, huh?" Centurion commented, downing the wine in his glass with one gulp. He shook his head; not strong enough, "Why not just accept her feelings? If not, just reject her and tell her its not going to happen. Its even more cruel to leave her hanging, you know. You're going to be sending mixed signals if you continue to dance around the issue."

Her eyes flitted over to Centurion briefly before she suppressed another blush. He'd grabbed her in his sleep the previous week and, much to her surprise, he actually didn't kiss her like the other times he had been dreaming. She placed two fingers on her lip gently. She had kissed him that time, but it wasn't because she liked him or anything! She just suddenly felt like it..."

"So?" Barkus cut in, "Having a partner or two on the side is pretty common nowadays for political marriage, right? I hear rumors that even the king has a mistress or two on the side. Why not just agree and be done with all this stress?"

"I fear its more serious than that," She started gravely, "She...was talking about marriage..."

The atmosphere in the room froze. Centurion was the first to show his shock, the grip he had on his glass loosening and the drinking implement shattering against the floor audibly. Rancis and Barkus had shut down, both of their mouths hanging agape at the news. Having a crush was one thing; having a lover was one thing; but marriage...that was when things became serious.

"How does she plan to do that?" Centurion scowled at the shattered remains of his glass. He needed to clean that up, "Are you the son of of an influential noble family without telling us?" Not that he would know anything about being the son of an influential noble family.

"She tells me she plans to talk to her father..." She twitched as Centurion laughed at her response, "Stop laughing, this is serious. The princess is nearly of marrying age and she's letting her infatuation get the better of her. She even made talks of eloping in order to fulfill her wishes. The kingdom would fall into ruins of its only princess decided to shirk her duties."

"Eloping?" An uncomfortable frown made its way to Centurion's face. That hit a little bit close to home, "Regardless, she's just a young girl. Maybe the best thing to do would be to wait it out? I can tell you don't want to reject her directly, so why not let the passage of time do it for you? She'll grow up one day and look back on it as a fond memory," Not that he would know anything about time healing heartbreak either. No, sir.

"Ugh, this is too much to deal with right now," She groaned, "The King is leaving to go on a hunting expedition and he expects me to take care of his daughter. Meanwhile, her daughter seems to think its the perfect time to enact her fantasies and ignore the ramifications for doing so.

"You're guarding the princess again?" Barkus finally found it in him to speak once again. He should've been happy for his friend, "When do you have to leave?"

"In two days," She sighed and rubbed her head. Tomorrow she would have to meet with Daphne in order to show her around the capital. She involuntarily shuddered. The vampire was friendly enough, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling of dread from the stares she had given her. They looked...hungry, "I'm meeting a friend tomorrow to show her around town. But after that I'll be spending most of the week guarding the princess in the palace."

"A friend, eh?" Rancis was the one to speak this time, "My, not even married and you're already cheating on the poor princess! My heart weeps for our sovereign heir!"

The sides of her mouth twitched as her arm made its way to her sword-wand. The blond playboy was just asking for it, "She's just a friend, Rancis. I'm showing her around town since I wanted to be nice," And avoid being licked. She shuddered again; she'd fought Undead and nearly faced execution, but the damnable licking was still her greatest fear up to now.

"Well, no use thinking about it now, right?" Centurion interjected, "Come on, we haven't seen you all week since you left for that assignment. Lets go to that Enchanting Nymphs place that Rancis mentioned. Barkus is paying for all of us."

"Yea- Hey wait, why am I paying for all of you!?"

Karin rolled her eyes and smirked. Some things just never changed.

* * *

**Character list for the unaware:**

**Karin Desiree de Maillart - Most of you know her as 'Karin the Heavy Wind' from Zero no Tsukaima. Back before she had her rule of steel mentality, she actually acted a bit more like Louise: Brash, hot-tempered, and (most important of all) tsundere. Unlike Louise, however, she's a prodigy in magic and shows to be capable of wandless magic when sufficiently pissed. **

**Centurion/Pierre - Karin's closest friend and love interest in the side-novels. Although not stated, there's a 95% chance that he's the Duke la Valliere from the main novels. He thinks Karin is male, although he does acknowledge he's really pretty for a guy. He also assumes that Karin is homosexual during the first volume.**

**Rancis - A blond playboy. Though unconfirmed, its pretty easy to guess that this is Guiche's dad: He has the appearance, attitude, and heart-shaped frilly purple shirt that marks him as a Gramont. **

**Barkus - Big guy. Kind of a jerk at first but proves to be kind-hearted when it matters. I'm guessing he's Malicorne's (Fat guy from the main novel) dad. They have the same cowlick bang.**

**Marianne de Tristain - The princess of Tristain and Phillip the III's daughter. She falls head over heels for Karin because she thought that 'he' was handsome. Despite being only 13 years old, she shows a maturity with romance and shows that he knows what will happen to her once she grows up. Unaware that Karin is female, and likely either never found out or did and moved on as she grew older. She has a similar personality to Henrietta before she was forced to take up the throne against Reconquista.**

**Daphne - A vampire Karin befriended. She and her sister Amethyst are rare vampires because they do not wish to kill humans in order to survive. She joins a special black ops later after being freed. Her les-yay with Karin quickly became memetic in spacebattles since she stripped Karin and made her sweat in order to drink it as a replacement for blood - Karin was actually against the idea and shown to be struggling in the novel picture. Despite this, Karin seems to hold no ill-will towards her.**

**If you need to see their pictures, go to baka-tsuki and look at the novel pics for the Karin side stories. They have a nice group color shot.**

**Well, that's it:) Read and review if you like it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter. This one focuses on Karin, so its just a tad more serious. The POV switches back to Marianne after this chapter, so its back to comedy then.**

* * *

Karin loved her friends. While she would likely never say those four words out loud so long as she lived, it didn't change that they were the closest people she could consider family right now. God knows her own family would never approve of her antics right now and would rather she dress herself up like some doll in order to attract the attention of a prospecting fiance. Her friends were the only one who stood by her, though she still felt somewhat wary about telling them her secret.

It would come in due time, she supposed. She was a growing girl still going through puberty and, while Centurion was an idiot who couldn't identify a girl even as he was groping her chest, she was slowly but surely going to mature at some point. She would have to start binding her chest soon if she continued to grow at the rate she was going now, although she had to find a way to- No, she was getting off-track. The final point of the matter was that her friends were the few people she would be willing to risk her life for and they for her.

So why did she feel the sudden urge to murder them right now?

"This...is the Enchanting Nymphs inn?" Karin twitched, forcing her voice to remain level as she was sorely tempted to take out her sword-wand and blow apart the three idiots, "This is what you three thought would be a good welcome-back venue? This..." She couldn't even find a word to describe the atrocity in front of her. It was just too much.

The building looked normal enough from the outside: A small but sturdy foundation made of wood, a few decorations and signs here and there - Nothing out of the ordinary. When the pink haired knight had first seen it she assumed it was a simple inn that had a signature dish or two that distinguished it from the rest. She hadn't seen Barkus' supressed grin as she led the way inside.

The first thing she had seen inside were bunny ears. This was quickly followed by low cut tops, frilly dresses, and much more risque choices of clothing that would no doubt have gotten this fic banned considering its current T rating if it was described in full. Karin's eyes widened into dinner plates at the sight and she forced herself to stop looking, lest her eyes become branded with the horror in front of her. She needed to focus on something else.

Like killing a certain three idiots with a tornado spell.

"Hey, calm down, Karin," Centurion placated, stepping between her and Barkus, "I'm sure this isn't like the place you got dragged to last, alright? So calm down before start a scene again."

"Don't act like you're not at fault here," She snapped back at the monocle wearing fallen noble, "It was your idea to come here in the first place, or did you forget" The ashen knight sweated at his younger compatriots accusation and back away, "Wasn't it bad enough that you three dragged me into a brothel? Thanks to you I nearly...did something I regret," She cut off quickly. No reason to tell the others that she nearly had her virginity forcibly taken, "And now you're doing it again!"

"Hey, this isn't a brothel" Barkus cut in quickly, "It may look like this, but there's no sex or other things like that. The owner here takes care of all the girls and there's a rule that any customer that tries to force a girl to do anything gets immediately kicked out. This is just an ordinary inn, so relax," The glare Karin gave him made it abundantly clear she didn't buy the explanation, "Look, how long are you going to hold the brothel thing against us? I'm already paying for this out of my own pay and we're doing this to welcome you back from that week long mission you had. So stop being so angry and just smile for once."

"Right!" Rancis agreed, "This inn provides a service, but there is no doubt that the maiden's in this fine establishment are pure of heart and innocent!"

"...Fine," Karin forced herself to smile, although her lips quivered from the effort. She still wanted to cast a tornado, "I'm doing this because you're paying for everything. Its not like I'll get to spend much time with you three over the next week anyway," She supposed that she would be spending the next week throwing off the amorous advances of a certain princess. She sighed. Life always found a way to mess with her.

Barkus was the one to lead the way. Judging by the smiles and greetings some of the customers had given him, he was a regular at this place. She rolled her eyes; of course the big lug would be a regular here. He probably spent most of the week she was gone going here rather than actually doing his job. One day she would put him and Rancis through a training regiment and then they would fear slacking off.

Karin quickly found that their little group had become the center off attention. As they made their way to their table near the back of the store, many of the waitresses - though they certainly didn't look like any waitresses she'd ever seen before - began eying all of them. It made sense, in a way: They were dressed more finely than the other customers and she carried with her the cape of a chevalier. A group of knights would garner more attention than a worker from the docks.

What caused her to shudder, however, were some of the stares the serving staff had thrown her way. While the princess was obviously smitten with her, the looks she had given her had a sense of purity and innocence about them. They were devoid of those, filled with other things: Curiosity, want and many other things she didn't want to think about. She shivered and wrapped her Chevalier cloak tighter around herself. One of them had looked her up and down and she could have sworn her gaze lingered just a bit too long on her rear.

If these girls were innocent, then she was a duchess.

"We're here," She quickly grabbed onto the nearest seat and sat down. Centurion sat next to her and immediately opened the bottle of customary wine sitting on the table. Barkus and Rancis sat across from her and began to call for one of the serving staff. She sighed in relief. She should be at least safe so long as she kept sitting with her friends. If there was one thing she learned from spending time with her friends, it was that people were reluctant to approach them when they were in a group.

Karin kept quiet and let Barkus order; he was the 'expert' here, after all. Centurion was already drinking, though Karin chose not to chide him this time. They had found 'Noir's' body in an alley a week prior and he was still coming to terms with moving on from her death. And if he had to drink to do it, she would let him...for now. He would need to stop at some point. She preferred milk to alcohol any day.

"So how did you find out about this place?" She asked Barkus.

"Huh? Oh, I just stumbled into it, I guess," He laughed awkwardly and Karin gave him a skeptical look, "...Alright, you got me. Truth is the owner of this place found me and helped me out when I got too drunk one night. Took me here and let me sleep in when most people probably would have robbed me blind. I became a customer after that and I even got a discount."

"One night? More like every night," She jibed sarcastically, "Anyway, the owner of this place helped you?" He nodded, "Alright, then I guess this place can't be all bad. Are we going to be meeting this mysterious mademoiselle you keep talking about?"

"Uh...yeah, probably in-"

"Oh, Barky~!"

Karin turned to the source of the voice and nearly fell of her chair at the sight of the figure running towards their table. The first thing she noticed was purple - A lot of purple. This was quickly followed by her deducing that said purple was the fabric of the tight shirt clinging to said figures chest. She looked down and noted grimly that their muscular legs were covered with nothing but a pair of boots and shorts that covered absolutely nothing except their buttocks. Really, who would be shameful enough to wear...

...

Well at least she wore stockings!

Now, this attire would no doubt be appealing if it was a voluptuous teenager wearing this. Or given some of the age of the clientele around here, even an older woman could be found attractive in such an attire.

Problem: The person running to them was undoubtedly a male. And an older, muscular one at that. And an older, muscular one at that. She bet that he could overpower the some of the knight recruits she'd seen around the barracks. The recruitment standard had been slipping a lot lately.

"Jeez, Barky, why didn't you tell me that you were coming to visit" Rancis nearly vomited as the unknown gentleman pouted and wiggled his backside. He had seen a lot of things, but that right there was horrifying, "I would have asked the girls to prepare for special treatment! Its not every day that we get knights!" He eyed all four of them. Rancis tried hard to keep calm, Karin was looking down at her clothes, and Centurion was already into his third cup. Karin noticed that his gaze seemed to linger on Centurion a bit.

"Ahahaha, sorry about that, Amau-"

"Oh, nonono!" He interrupted the large knight, "Don't call me by that cursed name! While I'm here, everyone calls me Mi Mademoiselle! Right?"

"Right...Mi Mademoiselle," If Karin wasn't so much in shock, she would have been laughing at how her normally headstrong friend was being cowed by a man wearing short-shorts, "Well, we didn't really plan to come here, actually. You see, our friend Karin just came back from his mission and we thought that it would be a good idea to treat him to a night here. That's all."

"A friend-"

Karin shook her head and stood up from her seat. She needed to get out of here before she got questioned by the flamboyant male. She was stressed enough as it is and she didn't need more things getting to her head.

* * *

Karin sighed and leaned back against the wooden wall, looking up at the red and blue moons dotting the night sky. She had wanted to spend time with her friends, but she wanted to do that.

"This place ridiculous," She commented aloud.

"You're telling me," Another voice joined her, "I can't believe this place is still running."

She looked to the side and found a male sitting down against the wall a few feet away from her. He looked young, possibly no older than twelve or thirteen, and was dressed in clothes that indicated that he was a commoner: A patchwork brown tunic, a pair of dark pants and some rough shoes. There was nothing physically unique of note about him save for the dark hair and the slightly tanner skin he sported.

"Why are you so surprised?" She called out to him.

"Why? Because of that idiot inside," He clicked his tongue and grabbed a rock before throwing it against the wall of the alley frustratedly, "Running around dressed like a woman, trying to act like he's not a guy anymore just because his wife's sick. Its disgusting, and because of it rumors are starting to spread about this place being heretical. Its so troublesome.

"I admit that he has issues," She started out slowly, "But maybe you should lighten up on the judgement. We all do a lot of things to keep our careers," She knew that more than anything else. She looked down at her Chevalier cape again before a brief smile played on her lips. She had earned this. Despite her gender and fallen house, she earned the right to be called a true knight.

"Issues?" He turned to face her and gave her an incredulous look, "He's running around dressed like a woman and keeps telling people to call him 'Mi Mademoiselle'," He chucked another rock, harder this time, "He's a father and he's acting nothing like it. What kind of kid looks up to a father who acts like that?"

"A father? That guy?" She wasn't one to judge, but that was more than slightly unbelievable. She had a hard enough time believing that the man had a wife, let alone a child, "Forgive me for saying, but that seems unlikely."

"...Well, I suppose its no secret," He sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I'm his son," Karin raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "I don't blame you for not believing me. I don't believe it myself sometimes. Ever since mom got sick he's been acting like that. He told me that it was because he didn't want me to live without both a mother and a father, but all he's doing is embarrassing me. None of the other kids want anything to do with me now that father's acting like that and all of the adults talk behind our backs, saying that I'm going to grow up just like him and that our family's doomed. I'm embarrassed of my own father."

"Sounds bad," She wouldn't really know. She'd cut contact with her own family for a while now and she was always distant with her parents. Her older sister was always slightly abusive and the last word she had told her upon their parting was that her dream was impossible. No goodbye's, no promise of reunion: Just a warning and a sneer telling her that she would fail. Guess she showed her.

"I suppose," He stood up and dusted himself off, "I'm going to get out of here before my dad finds me again. Goodbye..." He paused. He never actually found out the name of the person he was talking to.

"Karin," She introduced herself, "My name's Karin. What about you?"

"Scarron," He smiled at her before leaving, "See you."

* * *

When Karin returned inside, she wasn't even surprised to see that only Centurion was remaining on the table. She looked around briefly and found Rancis in another table, surrounded by admirers as he recalled the tale of Estashu's betrayal and his role in stopping him. Barkus was sitting in another table, although he was drinking with another girl who was giving him a longing stare. Pure and innocent maiden's her arse.

"Too much to drink again?" She pulled up her seat and smirked at Centurion, the older knight giving her an unfocused look in return, "Don't you think you've had enough? Drinking isn't going to help you forget about her forever."

"...t'helps," He poured another glass and gulped it down quickly, "I still don't understand her. She summons an Undead horde to attack a village and kill everyone inside, and then they just find her body in a back alley?" Another glass and another gulp, "Its...its hard to believe. I was ready to run away with her and then I killed her...I killed her because I was careless."

Karin frowned and patted the top of his head lightly. Drinking was Centurion's way of trying to forget his problems, but he was improving lately. She owed Centurion a lot and she would do a anything to try and make sure he go through this. Her senior knight deserved it after everything he did and risked for her. Saving her was the equivalent of turning back on the state and yet he had done it anyway. She owed him at least this much.

"Karin..." She nearly squeaked as Centurion wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, "Karin...I'm glad you're back..." She blushed before shaking her head roughly. He was just drunk. Drunk and reminiscing- He just pinched her butt! She grit her teeth and took deep, calming breaths. Centurion needed a friend, and she had no business thinking about romance now that she was a knight. She needed to calm down!

By the Void, she shouldn't have been thinking about romance at all! It wasn't like she had an interest in anyone! She closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from thinking of her fellow knight...which did little to stop her from thinking of the princess. God damn it all, she wasn't looking for a relationship! The princess had been popping into her mind recently. She remembered her promise to protect her. The young monarch had made a promise to help her people and Karin would try to help her. She didn't think of the princess because he found her beautiful or charming. Not at all.

"My, my. What do we have here?" Oh no, it was Mi Mademoiselle, "I never imagined knights would be so...bold," She twitched as the cross-dressing owner faked a swoon, "Just imagine it: Two knights, trapped in a forbidden romance, aware that society will never accept them! Truly a romance for the ages!" She twitched even more when she saw some of the serving staff pointing at the drunk Centurion and her. What were they whispering about!?

"No...no, its not like that," Just one push and she would have summoned a heavy wind to relieve her frustration, "Centurion is-"

"Dear, I understand!" He interrupted her, "We all have our own tastes, right? Why, just last week I met-"

"I don't have weird tastes!"

She snapped, and it was over in an instant. None of her fellow knights could even shout out a warning to everyone before a heavy wind surrounded the small pinkette, "Sweet mother of-" Whatever Rancis was about to say was blocked out by the sounds of screaming. Karin felt the wind blow around her and take Centurion with it before she forced herself to calm down. She didn't even need a wand to cast the spell;anger was enough.

The tornado she summoned spread around the shop quickly before dissipating at her command. She surveyed the damage around her: Broken tables and utensils, unconscious customers, and a damaged infrastructure. She looked around at the people before heaving a sigh of relief; none of them were seriously hurt, although they were going to be dizzy for a while. Centurion was the worst off since he had a few tears in his suit, but it was nothing a quick trip to the tailor could fix. Well, it was an improvement from their last incident in Dobier.

As she looked at the damage she had caused, only one thing popped into her head.

"...Barkus is paying for everything."

* * *

**Mizuki00 - No, I don't copy paste save for that one time in Infinite Stratos: Reversal. This is purely my addition based on the summaries I've read. Karin and Marianne are pretty much Louise and Henrietta when they're younger, save for Marianne being really lovestruck.  
**

**Tiresias-135 - I meant it literally. Say you're playing a card game and then suddenly your friend bursts in and says "Hitler started World war II!". You already know that and you'll say that you do, but you weren't exactly expecting that friend to suddenly burst in and say that. Even in the same paragraph where it says they didn't expect that, the three don't actually act shocked or startled at the news. Just that they didn't expect Karin to suddenly greet them with it.  
**

**Bakapervert - The novel's aren't translated, so I can't add anything from them. I just read summaries on spacebattles. **


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter.**

* * *

Marianne considered herself a good girl. Oh sure, she sneaked out of the castle from time to time and maybe even threw her authority when she didn't need to, but for the most part she was a stout believer of the Brimiric faith and made sure that she was a good little princess: She always listened to her father's commands, she made sure to fulfill any duties she was given (not that it was particularly hard given that they mostly amounted to sitting on the throne and smiling and prospecting Fiance's), and even prayed to Founder Brimir for forgiveness whenever she had a particularly risque dream about a certain knight.

So really, it wouldn't be a stretch to call her a dutiful monarch.

This of course meant that she could allow herself to be selfish from time to time. Sneaking out of the castle was one of her favorite hobbies, apart from spending time with Karin or the rare times when she was sent by her father for 'inspections'. Really, the last one was mostly her father allowing her some form of freedom in order to make sure she didn't go crazy staying in the castle too long. He knew better than anyone else she wouldn't get the chance in a few years and once she married she would likely not have the time or the opportunities to explore.

"Marriage..." Marianne frowned and suppressed a sigh as she stared into the mirror. Karin would be coming to the castle in order to guard her tomorrow, but at that point everything would be pointless: No doubt all of the guards and the castle staff would be watching the two of them. No, if she wanted to spend time with her knight without anyone interfering, she had to do it when she wasn't being the princess of Tristain.

And there was only one way to do that. She stared into her reflection in the mirror and did a quick spin - Her hair had been tied back with a strip of white cloth; her attire, which normally consisted of a graceful white dress, had been replaced with a more dirty white commoner's attire and apron. To complete the ensemble she had even disregarded her normal pair of heeled shoes in favor of a pair of tattered brown leather shoes. She smiled; perfect, she looked just like a regular town woman no one would look twice at.

Yes, she had to find him while she had the chance. She turned from the mirror and sneakily made her way through to the castle's back gardens. Her father was already beginning for his final preparations to leave and would depart early the next day, which meant that all the servants were too busy attending to him to pay attention to the entirety of the castle. Coupled with the fact that she knew where all the shortcuts were - something which she had learned from years of exploring the castle as a child - meant that she had next to no trouble making her way to the back gardens.

She ducked under the overgrown shrubs and pushed open the nearly rusted gate. How no one had spotted this gate yet she had absolutely no idea. Even she had found it when she was about eight years old, running away from her father after he had forgotten his promise to spend time with her that day. She was more mature now and she would no longer run after a feeling of supposed betrayal.

The path to the town was short, though the overgrown plants impeding her way caused her a small amount of annoyance, "Its okay," She reasoned to herself. After this she would see Karin again and all the irritation would have been worth it. Ah, how would her knight react upon seeing her? This would be her first time actually surprising him by meeting him in town; usually they always met at the castle's main hall. She giggled; he was going to be so surprised!

* * *

Karin yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She didn't get much sleep last night, mostly because she and the three stooges had been forced to repair the shop and pay for the damages...or rather, Barkus paid for the damages. Well, he **did** say that he was covering for them all with his pay and it wouldn't have been very knightly if he went back on his word. Centurion and Rancis had even agreed with her! Granted that was because they didn't want to pay either, but she took what she could get.

Now he just had to work extra hard for four months of pay rather than one. No big deal, right?

"Karin, are you alright?" Daphne's voice jogged her out of her stupor, "I'm sorry if you're tired or busy. Maybe we should postpone it-"

"No!" Karin interrupted quickly, "No, no its alright," She sighed, "I'm sorry, its just that we had a busy time last night and we spent most of it picking up tables and paying for damages," Daphne's face indicated she wanted to learn the full story. She was going to be disappointed, "Its a long story, and I really just want to forget about it, so no amount of begging is going to- Stop that!" She yelled suddenly.

"Stop what?" She replied back innocently.

"That...thing you do!" The cross-dressing knight turned away abruptly and tried to hide her reddening face, "That weird pout thing that looks like you're about to cry when you're not getting your way," Daphne blinked and tilted her head to the side in confusion, "See, you're doing it right now! Just stop- Gah!" She covered her face in her hands and ran ahead of the older vampire. She needed to keep calm, keep her heartbeat from getting too fast. It wouldn't be good for her right now considering her fatigued condition and the task ahead of her.

Daphne was a good person, that much Karin knew, but she was still a vampire. Unlike the other firstborn races, Vampires were humans who had turned into ascended beings, and as such they had the advantage of knowing from two points of view. Daphne and her sister Amethyst had been turned, but they were one of the few vampires who fed without killing: A rare case, but it happened once every blue and red moon. Right now they were working under Tristain's secret forces and were given a new chance at 'unlife' so to speak.

Unfortunately for Karin, that meant spending time with a person who unintentionally (or not) stroked her hormones with every look. She gulped quickly and tried to keep her breathing level: Vampires had a natural 'charm' about them that caused whoever they interacted with to be instantly attracted or fond of them. While it didn't work if you were already hostile or focused on other things - such as a conspiracy against the King - it proved remarkably effective when you were simply escorting said vampire around for a day in town.

Daphne tightened the thick cloak around her body and tried to catch up to her human friend. Perhaps she should have changed her clothes? She looked down at her dress and shook her head. It didn't matter: Sunlight would have affected her regardless of the dress she wore. What she needed to do now was catch up to Karin before they became separated. That would have been disastrous.

"Karin" The pinkette shivered as she felt her hand make contact with her shoulder. Keep calm... "Are you alright? You've been acting odd for a while now..."

"Odd? Me?" The Chevalier feigned confusion, "No, no, no. I was just...thinking where I should take you!" Daphne still had a look of doubt on her face- Damn it, why was her face so warm? She didn't think of romance and she was immune to lust. At least that's what she told herself every night, "Uh...you see, I didn't really have time to plan for today, what with the Orc wardband we fought in the previous week and the mess at the Enchanting Nymphs last night. So I'm ashamed to say that I have no idea where to take you today."

How Daphne didn't realize what she was doing, the younger female had no clue. She and Amethyst lured older nobles into allowing them to feed using that ability, right? So she must have known the effect she had no people...unless she was under the impression that they couldn't do it unconsciously? She sighed. It would just be her luck to make friends with the one (two if she counted Amethyst) vampire who wasn't aware that vampires were naturally seductive.

"Oh, anywhere is fine," Daphne smiled at her, "As long as we're spending time together, I don't really mind where we go. I hadn't seen you the whole week and I really missed you. And...I've been thinking of you a lot lately. I want to spend time with you today, just the two of us."

...Was she doing this on purpose? Nobody could say that with a straight face without trying to send a message. Even the princess, pure and innocent as she was, was obvious in her intent and she could tell easily whenever the young princess was fishing for compliments. Daphne, now her she couldn't read at all. Spending time together could certainly be done with two friends and be nothing but strictly platonic, but the way she moved her hands nervously certainly made Karin wonder exactly what she was so nervous about.

The charm magic wasn't helping. At all.

She shook her head roughly. Damn accursed spirit magic, making her mind confused. She needed to calm down and make sure her friend had a good time, "Right, come on," Karin grabbed her wrist and pushed walked to one of the open buildings, "We'll just keep looking around till we find a place we both like. I haven't had lunch yet, so maybe we can find a place to eat around here...or a place I can eat in since- Oh, you know what I mean."

Daphne giggled as she followed Karin's lead. Hopefully today would be fun for the both of them.

* * *

Marianne frowned as she stared down at her - heavily diluted - wine. She had looked all over the town and she couldn't even a trace of her knight. What she did get were lovestruck teens immediately asking her to go with them, though most of the time they were unable to actually do anything to back up their offers the second she turned to leave. There were of course a couple who...insisted she follow them, but a brandishing of her wand was enough to instill the fear of Brimir in their hearts. No one wanted to test the claims of one who carried a wand in their hands.

She blinked wearily as she heard the door to the inn open and close quickly. Odd, nobody usually went to inn's during the day: It was one reason she had chosen to come here in order to recover her thoughts. She had been foolish: How exactly had she expected to find Karin without any inkling on where he might have been? Her water magic wouldn't have helped either, seeing as she was of the wrong element. If she wanted to track someone, she would have been better off asking a wind Mage for assistance.

"Excuse me, Innkeeper?" Marianne's head immediately turned to the source of the voice. She would know that voice anywhere, "Ahem, would you be willing to provide us with a meal?" The owner took one look at his Chevalier cape before nodding quickly. The title of the knights made even the most sour of people eager, it seemed.

She couldn't stop the smile from overtaking her face: It was Karin! She saw him talk with the innkeeper briefly before he made his way to a table at the far corner. He hadn't noticed her, that was good. Now would be the best time to surprise him. She gulped down her wine before sneakily walking over behind him. She had it on good information that today was to be his day-off in preparation for guarding her. Well, what better way to prepare for guarding the princess than spending time with the princess herself? It was perfect.

"Guess who~?" She stepped up behind him quickly and placed both hands against his eyes. She felt Karin's shoulders stiffen from under her; heh, she must've been really surprised.

"P-Princ-" Marianne lightly squeezed his head tighter. A quick warning against yelling out what he planned to say, "I-I mean Ann! What are you doing here?" Though he tried to keep his voice calm, the princess could make out the surprise and...nervousness(?) in his voice. How odd, "A-Aren't you supposed to be at the cast-" Another squeeze, "...At your home right now? Does the k- Your father know you're here?"

"Ehehehe, its a secret," She released her grip on his head and turned to his front, putting her pointer finger in front of her mouth and sticking her tongue out, "Papa's too busy doing you know what and I managed to sneak out. Surprised?"

"Yes, but I'm more concerned!" For some reason, Karin looked around quickly before turning back to face her, "What are you doing here? Did you sneak out of the back garden again? Is there trouble back at the castle? Was there an attack by Estashu's forces? Is King Phillip alright?" Karin whispered as continued to rattle an increasing amount of problems that might have motivated her to leave the castle. Marianne sighed. Couldn't he see that she just wanted to see him? She knew of her affections for him, after all.

"Karin, please calm yourself," She interrupted before Karin could finish her suggestion of Windstone bombs being planted beneath the castle and ripping the entire city into the sky, "I just wanted to see you, that's all! Please don't act so nervous."

"See me?" Karin blinked as the princesses' statement finally registered. There was no danger to the castle...but things may have just gotten worse, "Oh, I'm flattered, Mari. I truly am," She could tell he was lying through his teeth, although he at least stopped whispering now, "But...this may not be the best time for meet. I am...busy today. Ahem, I mean I'm preparing for the mission tomorrow. You are aware of this, yes?"

"Busy?" Marianne narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Well, since you're preparing for the task tomorrow, would it not be better if I come along? I'm sure it will be better if I can advise you-"

"No! That is...unnecessary, Mari," He looked around quickly again. What was going on? Was he looking for someone? "I think it would be best if you go back to the cas- Back home. No doubt your father is worried and I still have to-"

"Karin, I think I found a suitable room. Should we- Oh, who's this?"

Marianne turned to the source of the voice and felt her jaw drop at the sight of the figure coming towards them. Pale skin, whiter than even some of the sheltered daughters she'd seen, and striking red eyes were the first to greet her. The figure's hair was dark, coming up to her shoulders before ending in abrupt points that seemed to make her look all the more stunning. Her eyes went to stare at the new arrival's face and she suddenly found herself outclassed. She was pretty, anybody could see that, but for some reason she found the older woman to be inhumanly attractive despite being female herself.

And finally, her eyes drifted down to the chest region and suddenly felt even more ashamed of herself. Her eyes widened as she suddenly started to feel up her own chest: Flat, but that was expected from her young age. She would grow, she would mature...right? She would get to that size one day, right? Her dress caused her to stare down in shame at her own attire. It was a disguise, but it was still unflattering considering the attire she usually wore. The new arrival's dress...left little to the imagination, suffice to say.

"Daphne, this is Mari," Karin turned to the two of them before pointing at the two females in turn, "Mari, this is Daphne. Um, I know its a bit hard to explain right now, but-"

"K-K-Karin, who is this!?" Marianne interrupted, pointing hysterically at the (unknown to her) vampire, "Is this a date!? Are you in a relationship with this person!? Is that why you were rejecting my feelings!?"

"Its...its not like that," Brimir above, she already felt awkward about having to let her friend...feed on her. She didn't want any more misunderstandings, and mouthing off to the princess and making her mad was not at the top of his list, "We...we're friends, pr- Mari! Nothing more, nothing less. She's new in town and isn't used to spending time outside so I offered to show her around. Please trust me." He turned to Daphne and soundlessly mouthed 'Play along'.

"Just friends?" Karin's face fell as Daphne failed to get her message, "Um, I suppose you could say we have a...special relationship," Right, that would probably be the best way to describe their relationship now: After all, Karin was the only person she had ever fed on that she made a friendship and continued to interact with. That was special, and the closest relationship she had ever had to anyone beyond her own sister. Speaking of which, she wondered where she went. She said something about visiting the other three knights.

Marianne, not understanding the meaning, took the answer badly, "A...special relationship?" She felt herself getting dizzy. A special relationship, that meant...that meant that they were..., "Ahahahahaha, right, of course. A special relationship," She stepped back and tried to hide her shaking hand, even as her voice came out more and more hollow, "Yes, of course. Karin's a popular knight and he's the hero who stopped Estashu's coup d'etat. Of course he would have a lover."

"Lover?" Karin looked positively aghast at the accusation, Mari, you're misunder-" Marianne turned away from them and ran. Karin could do nothing but watch as the younger girl bounded past the inn's door and away from sight, "-standing..." He slammed his head on the table and yelled in frustration. Just great, this was exactly what he needed: Her charge for the coming week thinking he was in a romantic relationship with a vampire. What had he done to deserve this? He was a good person, he was loyal to his country. He liked to think he earned the right to have good things happen to him.

"L-Lover?" Daphne's stare went from the groaning pinkette and then back to the girl who had just left. She thought of Karin as a friend, but perhaps...perhaps they could be more...? Her face reddened at the thought. Well, they had already gone a bit far for being just friends.

From his place at the back off the counter, the innkeeper snorted, "Pfft, nice job, Romeo."

* * *

**In case anyone's confused: Marianne's segments will always refer to Karin as male, regardless of the situation. This will continue for the entire story and will only stop if/when Karin reveals her gender. Oh, and apparently Romeo and Juliet is an actual play in Halkeginia: The omake had Saito and Louise playing the titular leads. **

**OakheadLord - They're not translated :/ I read the summaries in the "Back to Basics#5" thread on spacebattles. If you want to read the summaries, then you can find them on the table of contents. **

**Mizuki00 - Forgot to answer before: In Karin's time, women couldn't enter the high ranking Knight organizations. This obviously changes by the time of the main story since Tabitha's openly a chevalier and they only question her age rather than her gender. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Nothing to say. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The royal library was one of Marianne's favorite places in the castle. Apart from it containing books that helped alleviate her massive boredom, it was also one of the few places where she could be truly alone apart from her room. Everywhere she went she would usually have attendants pestering her or the royal adviser - who was more like a royal matchmaker considering his penchant of pestering her father to find a suitable suitor - harassing her non-stop in an attempt for her to get married sooner rather than later. She was getting to the age where she was beginning to get very valuable for political relations.

It was also the one place where she could vent her frustrations.

Puffing her cheeks in irritation, she pushed open the wooden double doors before walking into the room slowly. At the table on the center of the archives, Christophe Lutece didn't even look up as he heard the doors slam open audibly. He'd been here long enough to recognize what the doors slamming meant: Princess Marianne had another life changing catastrophe in her hands and she needed someone to vent it to. Sighing, he closed the book he was reading and marked the page where he stopped. The princess hated it when she thought people weren't listening to her.

"Christophe? Are you here?" Marianne called out. It was a customary thing more than anything - She knew well enough that he rarely ever left the library save for his meals or to sleep, and sometimes even that. The old librarian was pretty much a staple in the area and only some of the castle's closest inhabitants could recall a time when he wasn't quietly attending to the books in the vast halls.

Christophe wasn't anyone special: With already graying hair, gray eyes and pale wrinkled skin that marked him as being either in his late thirties to early forties, he could hardly be called a dashing noble by anyone. Officially he was supposed to be the librarian, but unofficially he was one of the princess' tutors when - along with many others - when she was still learning the basics of education.

Although tutor might have been an overestimation. While he was supposed to teach her how to read, all of her tutor's already did that in addition to their own subjects: Etiquette, maths, sciences, nobility courting rituals - All of these were hammered into her since childhood. Soon his role as a tutor was forgotten and he was relegated to reading her stories whenever she found herself bored...which was rather often, seeing as she was a child being forced to learn about things she never found interest in.

Ah, but she loved the stories. Tales of dragons kidnapping princesses only to be rescued by the dashing knight in shining armor; dashing rogues who stole from the corrupt nobility and gave to the poor; and even the tales of forbidden romance. How the princess dreamed of being wooed by the charming knight or the charismatic rogue who would sweep her off her feet and take her on wild adventures, unshackling the chains nobility and royalty that held her down and going only where the road or their next whims would take them. The life of a free spirit.

Of course, real life wasn't as simple as that. Dragons rarely ever took princess, and if they did it was likely to eat them so there was little chance of rescue. Dashing rogues tended to be cutthroat and the line between a good noble and a bad noble became hard to distinguish so long as they kept loyal to the country they stayed in. And the idea of a rogue or knight marrying a princess was even more absurd. The former had a likelier chance of kidnapping her for a ransom - and then killing her anyway if the action pleased him - and the latter would be dishonored if he even thought of romancing someone above his position. It was a good fantasy, but a fantasy was all that it would ever be.

"Yes, princess, I am here," He called out. It was the practiced response that he had been using for over 3 years now.

"Ah, of course," Marianne smiled and sat down onto one of the chairs at his front, "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, Christophe. Its just..." She pursed her lips and fidgeted in her seat. He raised an eyebrow in surprise; the princess was almost never reluctant to share what bothered her. For the most part it was because he never really judged her and her weird proclivities. She was the princess and he was the librarian, meaning that he had no right to judge her so long as she did her duty to the kingdom. He knew that the only reason that she even continued to vent on him was because she found it more relaxing than venting against the wall, although his usual lack of a reaction or answer made the point moot.

"What is the matter?" He grabbed for the quill and ink bottle before searching lazily for a parchment to write on. The princess liked it when he took notes of her problems; it at least made him appear that he was paying rapt attention and that he thought about how to help her even after she left. The truth of the matter was, of course, that he burned it as soon as she left - If anybody found notes on some of her problems...well, blackmail would be a mild way of stating what would happen to her. Besides, she solved all her problems not too long after she vented, so there was little need for him to think of a solution for her.

"I have something I need to confide in, and the details of it must not leave this room. Am I understood?" He nodded, already dunking the pen into the quill. "Oh, and please don't write this down either. I want this to remain a complete secret."

"...Are you certain?" At her nod, he quickly kept the utensils. That was odd. She always told him that whatever she was about to say shouldn't leave the room, but that never stopped her from doing nothing as he wrote down her problems. Was this serious? Usually she would come to him to complain about how her lessons went or to remark that prince so and so and duke such and such were much too old and pompous for him to ever think about marrying them. At times she would even confess to having risque dreams about a certain knight - although she didn't include the details. He was never going to say anything and she took advantage of that.

"Yes. This is truly important," She wrung her fingers together, "Christophe, have you ever been in love?" He was briefly surprised by the blunt question, but held his reaction in all the same. Had the princess finally found a fiance? The royal messenger would be happy, "Ah, forgive me for asking such a blunt question. But please, I wish for you to answer me honestly."

"I've never really thought about it, I suppose," He shrugged. How odd, the princess usually never asked him questions or his opinions. He was there to be an ear; that was how it was for the past three years, "Many nobles go their whole lives without thinking on the subject and marriage is political for the most part. My older brother did mention that he had an heir, but that was years ago and I haven't really kept in contact. Why? Have you finally found a suitor?" She blushed at the return question, "Ah, then who is the lucky noble? I'm sure that your father and the royal adviser will be happy to hear that."

"No, I haven't a fiance to speak of," She denied vehemently, though the blush remained on her cheeks, "It is...complicated. Do you recall Karin, the knight I spoke of to you weeks ago?"

"Of course," He replied. There was no way he didn't know who Karin was; the dashing young Chevalier who stole Princess Marianne's heart. It wasn't as if it was a well-kept secret - Practically everyone in the kingdom who cared about the latest rumors knew of the princess was in love with the knight. Personally he wondered how exactly Royal Adviser Alain hadn't caught on yet, although he excused it with the noble thinking rumors were beneath him or not caring at all even if he did know. Karin was a knight, not a Duke or even a Viscount. He was no threat.

"Yes, of course you do," She shook her head and took a deep breath, "I...sneaked out the castle a few hours ago," He didn't give any indication that he was surprised. While the princess liked to think she kept her excursions secret, most of the servants in the castle already knew where she got off to whenever she went missing. They let her be, mostly due to her young age. No doubt they would stop her once she reached the appropriate age, "I wanted to see Karin, so I went into town and...and..."

"Continue," He reached under the desk and searched for one of the books she liked. It was also one of the ways she calmed down: Reading her fairtytales and forgetting about her problems. Perhaps the 'Hero of Ivaldi' would be a good choice? He heard that young maiden's found the book intriguing, although he didn't fancy the book himself.

"He was with someone else," She closed her eyes and tried to keep herself calm, "She...well, she was older than me, that much was obvious. But she and Karin were together...and...and Karin said they weren't lovers, but-but-but the girl was blushing and she mentioned getting a room together! D-Doesn't that mean they're together!? After all, when a woman and man share a bed, doesn't that make them lovers!"

Christophe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to alleviate the already coming headache. While he was used to hearing the princess' complaints already, she did have the bad habit of jumping to conclusions at times. He needed to find a way to calm her before she decided the best way to confirm her suspicions was to ask her father the king or throwing her weight around.

"Princess, did this knight say she was his lover?" He started off slowly. She hesitated slightly before shaking her head from side to side, "Then why not trust him? Your affection for him is no secret, and I can only presume that he hasn't completely rejected you so far given your continued pursuit of him. Jumping to conclusions helps no one and only serves to cause problems." He recited, trying to remember the spiel from that one book he read a fortnight ago. He had no idea how to deal with teenagers and their love problems.

"But..." She looked down and bit her lip in irritation, he hands going to her chest for whatever reason. He sighed and looked around the library quietly as the princess continued to mutter excuses and reasons from under her breath. His assistant had gone into town for supplies and no one ever visited the library, so he thought the day would finally allow him some peace and quiet.

"I...trust Karin, of course I do. But..." She muttered something unintelligible under her breath again, "I don't trust the girl he was with. When I asked Karin if they were lovers he was quick enough to deny it, but she didn't. She claimed that they held something special between them and I saw her face redden when I mentioned the possibility that they were together. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"She may hold affection for him, this is true, but this is not indicative of him returning these feelings," He replied neutrally. He had little idea of what she was talking about and placating her was the priority. The King's absence meant that the princess was pretty much given free reign on what she wished to do, meaning that

"Are you saying that she is simply an admirer and stands no chance with him?" That wasn't what he said at all, but he nodded all the same, "Yes, I suppose that makes sense. Karin's the hero who exposed Estashu," Technically it was his entire knight group, but he didn't interrupt her, "And he was the one who braved an execution in order to uncover the truth. It makes sense that he has admirers."

He didn't know how much of that was accurate and how much of it was the princess' own hero-worship. He let it slide; after all, she was at least beginning to cheer up.

"With that said, I now need the key to the sacred vault," ...How were those two related at all? "Please don't look at me with suspicion. I am simply going to check if there's anything there that's still usable and I don't plan to steal anything. After all, it is well-known that the vault only holds relics of the past and it would be heretical to steal any of the holy artifacts. I promise not to touch the Founders prayer book or any of his other artifacts."

"You can always ask the royal treasurer. As a member of the royal family, you are allowed to inspect the vault as is your right as princess, " He frowned slightly, "But please make sure to be careful. Due to the recent influx of criminal activities and vagabonds entering the city, the treasurer and the various officials thought it would be best to place some of the more riskier items in the vault since no one would think to attack the palace. Be careful that you don't steal a poison."

"Of course. And thank you for speaking with me, as always," She bowed and turned her back to him, making her way to the door. He was oblivious to the slight smile she had on her face. She knew exactly what the vault contained; she'd heard the maid's gossiping about it when she first came running back to the castle. If they were right, then the vault contained exactly what she needed.

Christophe watched her leave before bending down to pick up his book again. He really should have stopped her or discouraged her, but he saw little point in it. If there was one thing she had inherited from her father, it was his stubborn will. And in the end, it wouldn't matter. When her future fiance was decided, she would have to fulfill her duties as the kingdom's sole heir and marry him for the good of the people. She would get her fun now and then she would do her duty later. He just hoped this Karin fellow wouldn't try anything or resist the temptation. For both his and the princess' sake.

...But all the same, he gave Karin his sympathies. The knight was going to need it.

* * *

Karin rubbed her eyes wearily and stared at the dark ceiling above her. It was still early - the morning sun was just barely beginning to peek over the horizon - and she was still fatigued from the events that had happened yesterday. Brimir above, that was completely disastrous. Bad enough that the princess thought her friend was her lover, but she still had to let Daphne feed on her after everything.

She winced as she rubbed her arms, trying to alleviate the sudden chill she felt. For a reason she couldn't possibly fathom, the vampire insisted on drinking her sweat again over actually just draining her of blood. It made sense the first time; they were going to attack a heavily fortified estate and she couldn't afford to be weakened by blood loss. Now she had all the time in the world and it was pretty obvious to her that most of her time spent guarding the princess was just to keep her company till the king came back from his hunting trip. There was no need for her to strip and sweat it out like before, especially since the blood drain option was quicker and cleaner all around.

And that wasn't even getting to the fact that they had repeated the process three times before the Vampire finally satisfied herself. She needed to put her foot down; the firstborn was getting way too spoiled for her own good.

"Ugh, need to hurry. Can't be too late on the first day..." She forced her tired limbs to move and sat up on the bed, ignoring the pillow's call that she sleep again. Off to the right, she could see Centurion sleeping in his own bed, his entire body covered by a thin white blanket. Karin had arrived later than he did and he was already asleep by the time she got there. He seemed to be tired so she decided against waking him up to announce her presence. She'd say goodbye later.

Groggily, she reached for her attire lying on the chair before making her way to the other room. It was a force of habit; Centurion was asleep and likely wouldn't wake up unless she suddenly yelled, but she still felt wary all the same. The last thing she needed was for the clueless-to-females-even-after-he-groped-them-in-h is-sleep knight to wake up in the middle of her changing. Although he might have felt relieved after he realized that he felt attracted to a female rather than a suspiciously attractive male. Barkus was the same during the start of their friendship.

She opened the door quietly before stepping into the room. She needed to stay quiet; she didn't want to wake Centurion, "...Need to buy new gloves..." She frowned as she saw how tight the gloves fit into her hands. During her week-long mission she'd actually had to buy a new set of clothes due receiving damage from the warband, albeit she managed to find a tailor in the small village that allowed her a larger version of her old attire. She'd gotten a sudden growth spurt the week and, while she didn't gain more than a couple of inches at most, her form-fitting attire had gotten tighter since it was already short on her to begin with.

Her frown deepened even more when she raised her shorts to their place. The new attire she bought had gotten dirty and it would have been shameless since she already wore it for most of the week; water magic could only do so much before she had to launder it, and it would have been poor etiquette to appear in front of the princess with disheveled clothing. It could be excused before since she was reporting on a mission, but not now.

Once she finished putting on her stocking, she finally removed the loose sleeping attire - really just an oversized tunic - and reached for her white sleeveless vest, giving a slight glance of discomfort at the cloth. The thing looked smaller than she last remembered. Oh well, better to do this quick before-

...Something was wrong. She grabbed for both sides before trying to button them, which was met with a general lack of success as the two sides refused to meet one another. Another attempt, another lack of success. Through the darkness, she began to sweat nervously. She'd chosen this attire because the size was just right for her; even if one looked to the size, they wouldn't be able to see her chest jutting out at all. But that meant of course that if it got any tighter then she was completely unable to do anything about it.

"No! Damn it, close you stubborn little-!" She muffled a curse under her breath. She'd managed to button up the sides on her stomach, but the ones on her chest refused to budge, "...Won't fit..." If she was a little less panicked, she would've laughed at the irony of her wishing that her already small breasts to become even smaller. Stupid growth spurt.

"Karin? Karin, you alright?" Centurion's weak voice reached her ears, "Karin, where are you? Is something wrong?" He got up from the bed and began to walk to the other room. He was going to see her.

"Damn it!" She ran to the door before slamming her back against it. She was not going to let him see her like this, "U-Uh, everything's fine!" She sucked in her breath and tried to close the buttons again; no dice, "J-Just having a bit of a hard time changing into my clothes, that's all! This thing feels smaller for some reason. Maybe I grew?" Oh Brimir above, let him buy the excuse!

"...Smaller? Oh, I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Damn it, she wasn't going to get anywhere like this. Why didn't this door have a lock? At least then she wouldn't have had to us herself as some kind of makeshift barricade.

"I screwed up washing the clothes while you were away," ...What? "Yeah, I used warm water by accident and your clothes shrunk, I guess. Its not a growth spurt, or at least I don't think it is since you don't look that bigger compared to before. Hey, you still there?" She didn't reply, "Anyway, I bought you a new set of clothes to replace the ones I ruined. They're in the cabinet, if you want them."

...She was going to kill him.

"J-Just get them to me! We still have an agreement, right?" She did all the chores and in return he didn't ask why she refused to let anyone see her change. That was their deal, "Open the door slightly and give them to me! If I see you poking your head in here, you're dead!" She needed to keep calm. Waiting a few seconds after hearing his "Yes", she opened the small cabinet and looked for the cloth bandages they stored there. She didn't like it, but she would have to bind her chest since the idiot probably got the wrong size for her.

Outside, Centurion picked up the clothes before heaving a tired sigh. What was the big deal with changing in the same rooms? Yes, he called Karin a homosexual in the past, but he at least liked to think that they'd been through enough together that they could go past that little incident. She didn't like to think of the pink haired knight holding a grudge against him, especially after what they went through the week prior.

"Hey, I've got your clothes-" A tiny pair of hands grabbed for assorted garments before he could even his sentence and slammed the door in his face, "...Good morning to you too." God, he still felt dizzy from yesterday. He needed to lie down and save his energy.

Inside the room, Karin's right eye twitched as she looked at the clothes Centurion had given her. While they were the same for the most part, she could make out that the shorts were longer and and that the sleeveless tunic was baggier than her old clothes. Her mouth lowered into a frown and she began to unroll the bandage. The clothes were too baggy and she leaned down then anyone could see her chest. She could at least excuse the bandages as injuries she had received during the prior mission.

Changing took no time at all once she finally found the clothes to actually fit her. The shorts length bothered her slightly - They were currently went near to her knees and just barely went past the top of her stockings, but as long as it didn't impede her in combat then she could adjust to it easily enough. The new coat she had received was also a darker shade of blue; almost black if one looked at it from the right lighting. At least her boots and gloves remained the same, so there was that to consider.

"Hey, I'm done- Why in the void are you shirtless!" She quickly turned around and tried to hide her slightly reddening face. While she had gotten used to the sight of her compatriots body, that was usually because she helped him patch up manually when his willpower was too low and she had time to mentally prepare herself. Despite her best efforts, she was a female and Centurion was an attractive male (Despite how much she regretted admitting that). He didn't even have an obnoxious personality like Rancis or Barkus to offset this...well, not unless he was drunk. Then he just came off as annoying.

"My entire body's sore," He looked up at Karin before closing his eyes again, "That girl from before. Her name was Amethyst, wasn't it?" She nodded, "Yeah, well apparently Estashu didn't feed her when he kept her captive, and she didn't feed while they were being integrated to the king's secret guard for the whole week, so she was really hungry when she came to meet us."

"And how does that relate to you being shirtless?" She asked blankly, doing her best not to stare at him.

"Getting to that," Centurion groaned, "Anyway, Barkus volunteered to be fed on, but he and Rancis had a patrol and he couldn't afford to miss it - He lost his pay for the whole month and his still owes repairs to that shop, remember?" He laughed, "And since I'm their handler I volunteered to let her feed on me. She said she would only take a bit, but she was starved for a while, so..." He attempted a shrug, "Anyway, I'm not going to be able to work today, so I'm not bothering to put on a shirt. Its way too stuffy in here and even using a blanket ends with me sweating a lot. Heck, I'm surprised you're walking around so easily. Didn't Daphne feed on you?"

"Uh, yeah, but we used an...alternate method..." Karin fidgeted at the memory. Centurion raised an eyebrow but didn't question it, "Hmm, I'm supposed to be at the palace by early morning, so that means I have about an hour or two before I'm needed there. Is there anything you need done-"

"Don't worry," He rolled in the bed lazily and placed his head on the pillow, "Amethyst is coming to check up on me in half an hour or so and Rancis and Barkus are coming to visit at night after their job finishes. Just be careful, alright? Guarding the princess of Tristain is a big responsibility and you don't want to lose your Chevalier title so soon after you just got it," He gave a crooked smile, "And make sure to keep your restraint for the whole week. I bet against Rancis that you'd resist the temptation for the forbidden fruit and not try anything with the princess. He thinks you will and he bet a hundred ecu. Prove him wrong."

Karin rolled her eyes and threw her pillow against his head, only receiving a weak groan in response, "Is that all you three think about?" She commented exasperatedly, "By the way, you said Amethyst was coming to check up on you?" He nodded weakly, "Well, you might want to wipe off any sweat you have on your body. You'll regret it later if you don't...or maybe you won't, I can never be sure with you."

"Why?"

"Just...trust me. You'll thank me later." She tossed a torn strip of dry cloth at him, "Make sure to be through, alright? I have to go. Tell Rancis and Barkus goodbye for me and that I'll see you guys next week."

"See you."

With that last word, Karin waved goodbye to him and descended their domicile's stairs. For the next week she would have to watch over Princess Marianne, and that meant being in the castle for the duration of her task. She sighed. Just when she thought things were going to go back to normal. She'd even had thoughts of finally telling the others - or at least Centurion - her secret. But she would have to think about that later. Right now the princess was what was important and she would have to keep herself vigil for whatever may come the following week.

Unknown to her, Marianne was currently in the vault and smiling at the pinkish vial of liquid that she had uncovered: A love potion, perfect for coercing out any feelings a person might have kept hidden. She would just add a small drop, but if Karin had any feelings or affection for her then this concoction would be the catalyst to make her knight act on it.

May Brimir have mercy on her soul.

* * *

**Mizuki00 - I doubt it. This is a T rated story, so it'll get purged if I make too much mature content. I have no problems for writing the lead ups to said situations, but after that is the reader's imagination. **

**BloodTrinity - This isn't really canon to Twisted Reflections: Mostly cause I can't see Karin canonically going for a threesome ending. Who knows, maybe I'll throw a reference to it here. But don't expect anything here. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Next chapter. Please read the authors notes at the end.**

* * *

Karin was nervous. To anyone who had known for more than a day, the words 'Karin' and 'Nervous' never really mixed unless you wanted to say 'Karin made everyone else but her nervous', which both her friends and enemies could attest to. So what could make the fierce Knight, the one who stopped Estashu's coup' de tat and showed no fear against a Vampire, nervous? Was it a monster unable to be beaten by magic? A group of assassins coming for her life? Or maybe it was an army of Elves that running through the borders?

No, it was none of these things. She could use her own skills to fight a monster immune to magic, she feared not what any assassin was capable of and she would fight against any Elves bravely and die without regrets or fears. Karin didn't feel nervous so long as she had at least the smallest chance of fighting against whatever came for her. What she feared was an enemy she couldn't fight against, an opponent that wouldn't even give her the chance to retaliate no matter what they did.

And this 'enemy' came in the form of Princess Marianne de Tristain.

Karin sighed and banged his head against the wall gently, making sure that no one was around to see her disgraceful actions. It had already been a couple of days since she had guarded the princess and every day was getting more and more tense. Oh sure, to anyone who saw their interactions they would think everything was fine: Princess Marianne kept a respectful distance and whenever she did deign to address her it was always politely by calling her 'Sir. Karin' or 'Chevalier de Maillart'. By all accounts things were going quite well.

This was exactly why she was worried. Karin removed her right hand glove and bit her finger in irritation; a small habit she had when she was unable to fight back against a problem. While Marianne was indeed acting in a manner that made it seem everything was alright, she could see the signs that the princess was hiding something. The princess would mumble to herself about the most random things and whenever Karin decided to ask what was troubling her the princess would blush a deep red and say that it was nothing for her to be concerned about. She also didn't miss the smiles the princess had on her face the second she thought that she wasn't looking at her. She was definitely hiding something.

Just last night she spotted the princess trying to open the door to her temporary room. While their rooms were next to one another - Far easier to come to the princess' aid should something happen - it didn't change the fact that her excuse of 'I thought it was my room' any more ridiculous. To start with, the princess' room door was far more ornate and decorated compared to hers and far larger, so that excuse wouldn't work unless the princess suddenly lost her sight.

And then there were the subtle signs. While the princess was far more subdued about it, there were multiple signs that would have made some of the castle servants start whispering rumors. Such as when she had invited her over to her room on the first night that she came here ostensibly because she needed help reviewing on her court etiquette. Apart from the fact that summoning a knight rather than one of her countless other educated servants was odd, Karin could hardly believe that dancing with faces in close proximity or holding hands while passing tea was etiquette that was taught to a princess. The dancing she could understand, but she couldn't ignore the fact that the princess was giving out hints and that every time she 'tripped' it was obviously intentional.

That wasn't even the end of it. Karin sighed and licked her right palm. While she knew that it was nothing but a placebo, the gesture still calmed her somewhat whenever she was nervous or frustrated. The princess had invited her to a private dinner. 'Just the two of us', she said. ...She licked her palm again. While she did find the princess charming, she didn't hesitate to admit that she hoped that the princess' misunderstanding with Daphne would cut off any further attempts at trying to woo her. She didn't want to lose her position as a knight because the princess thought everything would turn out alright in the end. She'd worked too hard and the princess' naivete would cause them both problems.

"Brimir damn it all..." She closed her eyes tightly and tried to keep herself calm. Right, dinner with the princess tonight. She would go in, eat the food and drink the wine when provided, and then leave once she made an excuse about doing her rounds around the castle. No doubt the princess would like to use the chance to try and ask her more personal questions or tempt her with various other things should she become receptive to her advances. But she wouldn't fall for it, even if the princess offered her a position as a general on a silver platter. She wanted to work for her achievements and her children - should she ever get choose to dispose of the charade and take a husband - would follow in those footsteps. Always loyal and working for all their achievements.

That sounded like a good rule to have. Hmm...

Regardless, she needed to prepare for tonight. She made her way to her room and opened the closet inside. Inside was the attire the princess had gotten for her not too long: The yellow silk shirt with bird feathers and lace at the front, the white pants with dragons depicted on the side and even a tail on its back end. She put them on quickly before eyeing the hat that was atop the shelf. It was seven-colored like a rainbow and had a crystal skull that showed up depending on how bright an area was. While many would have called the attire fancy, Karin considered it torture. Her movements felt restricted and every time she even stretched her hands she worried whether the fabric would tear and she would end up wasting the money the princess used to buy and then subsequently repair it after the trap Estashu laid for her.

Why didn't the princess just accept a suitor already? She heard prince Henry of Albion was of age and looking for one. Granted he was a few years older than the princess, but it could have been worse. She'd frequently heard stories of little girls marrying men already late into their adulthood. While it was mostly political and sex was for the sole purpose of granting heirs, she couldn't help but frown slightly at the thought of the princess marrying a decrepit old man just for a few political connections. Age didn't matter to her, but she wondered if Marianne would be happy once she left all her fantasies aside and focused solely on her duty. He would be there for her, of course, but only as her knight.

Her mind drifted to her friends. She'd taken a leave of absence yesterday in order to see if Centurion had gotten better, but Rancis and Barkus remained ever busy with their knightly duties; Barkus had to take more shifts since paying for the Enchanting Nymphs cost him quite a lot and Rancis had joined. Centurion had gotten slightly better, but for the most part he was still bedridden and now he had caught a cold or some other type of sickness. Amethyst volunteered to take care of him since he was their handler and she felt responsible, but Karin didn't miss the slight reddish tinge she had. Centurion didn't notice, but he apparently had an effect on the girl being that he was one of the few males she talked extensively with in her long life that didn't end with her running away to avoid being burned at the stake.

She could understand that...hypothetically, of course. It wasn't as if it was because she felt attracted to him herself. Of course not, that would have been silly. And she wasn't jealous at all, not even when Amethyst kissed him in the forehead for good health or when she stripped him of his clothes in order to help him change. She certainly didn't look him over and take note of his physique, she simply checked to see if he had any injuries on him or if the bite mark left a permanent scar. And she most certainly did not drool when he bent over and exposed his back and rear to her.

Yes, she was just platonically worried and nothing more.

...

...She had to get to the princess' room. Not because she wanted to or a part of her wanted to talk to the princess all night long, but because it was her duty. Nothing more.

There was a soft knock on her door, "Coming~" Marianne all but skipped to her bedroom door once she heard the soft knocks coming from the wooden surface. There was only one person that knocked so softly and politely to her, "Karin, please come in," She smiled at the pink haired knight as he strode into the room hesitantly. Her eyes traveled up his body; the clothes were expensive and cost quite a bit to repair after her fight, but seeing her knight wearing them made it all the more apparent to her that she made the right choice.

"Thank you for inviting me to this dinner, Princess Marianne," Karin greeted and bowed politely. Marianne grabbed the side of her dress, doing a curtsy and offering her hand to him. He nodded and kissed it, as is the fitting reply to the gesture. It was a pointless gesture, but Marianne liked doing it and it made the entire thing feel more dignified than it really was. Karin liked older and mature girls, right? She needed to show him that she could be just as mature and just as dignified as the admirer he was with days ago.

"The pleasure is all mine, Sir. Karin," She put on her best 'noble' smile and gestured to the table, "Shall we begin? I had asked the head chef and he allowed me to cook the meal with him earlier. Royal Adviser Alain disapproved, but it isn't against the rules for the princess to help in the kitchens," She giggled as she recalled his angry red face, "Ah, but let us not sour our night with talks of politics. Come, let us eat on the meal we have been given."

Karin forced himself to smile and sat down opposite the princess on the small table. Marianne clapped her hands together and did a quick prayer in gratitude for the meal...and in forgiveness. Her eyes drifted under the table where the empty bottle of love potion lay. While she had gone back on her promise and put more than a simple drop into the wine, one had to take into account that less than half of the potion was there by the time she got the vial and that the person she was dealing with was Karin. He was the one who fought again near impossible odds again Estashu and didn't even cry when he was about to be executed for crimes. Clearly he needed more than a drop to get him to confess his feelings.

After all, that was all it would do, right? While there were rumors she heard that they induced fake affection, she really couldn't imagine such a thing. In all the stories she'd read, true love conquered all and those of strong will never fell for the villain's attempts to get their allegiance. Certainly if this potion did induce fake affection then Karin would be strong enough to resist it, should the need ever arise. He was far too strong willed for it not to be the case.

Dinner was...calming, much to Karin's surprise. Marianne did nothing out of the ordinary and only asked about the assignments that he had received over the course of the week. He answered her to the best of his abilities, although he made sure to leave any grisly or gruesome details out of it. He doubted that the princess wanted to hear about Orc's squealing as their arms were cut off or how their diet consisted mostly of the children they'd manage to abduct from the villages they passed. She noticed him trying to gloss over details, but didn't press him on it. He was being considerate for her, after all.

And then it came for the toast. Marianne made sure to put the drops of potion in Karin's glass before he even came in here, so the wine sitting there on his cup was already set. She didn't want to put it in the middle of the dinner and risk him being suspicious, "Well then, should we toast to your new position as Chevalier?" She smiled and raised up her glass, "I expect that you have already done so with the others, but please humor me all the same."

"Of course, Princess Marianne," He nodded and raised the glass to meet hers. Marianne brought the cup against her lips and-

"Princess Marianne! The Royal Adviser is calling for you," A knock on the door interrupted her, causing her to nearly drop the chalice she held in her hands. She forced herself to smile and nearly slammed the cup against the table, spilling the drink slightly from its container. Why now of all times?

"I'll be quick, Karin," She remarked in a clipped tone, temporarily going back to first name basis. Karin nodded and lowered the glass he held in his own hands. He was slightly thankful that he hadn't drank from the wine yet. It would have been rude if one drank ahead of someone from a higher position than them. He looked at the princess' own cup before leaning across the table to bring it farther away from the edge. The way she put it down made it lean precariously close to the edge, and he didn't want the princess to spill a drink on herself.

"I apologize for the delay," Marianne sighed as she sat back down again, "The Royal Adviser is calling to suggest about another suitor," She sighed dramatically, "I told her to tell him that if he wanted to discuss suitor's then he could do it tomorrow. Its simply far too late in the day to discuss that," Karin would've liked to point out that it never stopped her from discussing her attraction to him, but he let it slide again. She was being calm and professional tonight for whatever reason and he didn't want to ruin it.

"Well then, should we-" She stopped as soon as she took notice of her chalice's odd position. Odd, it was in a different spot compared to where it was before she left; she could make out the spilt drops of wine and they were at a couple of inches away from where the glass was positioned now. Her glass had been moved, but how...did Karin switch them? She looked up at Karin, earning a confused glance in return. Did he think something was wrong and switch the glass? He always was perceptive, "Actually, could you do me a favor and please open the window? I feel a heat overtaking me."

Karin agreed to the odd request and made to open the window behind her. As soon as his back was turned, Marianne switched the glasses quickly, making sure to put them in the same position so that he wouldn't notice the change.

"Well then," Marianne coughed, picking up her glass again "Shall we-"

Another knock on the door interrupted her, "Princess, the Royal Adviser is adamant that you answer his summons."

Karin felt sorry as the princess' smile twitched and she forced herself to stand and make her way to the door. Sighing, he grabbed the princess' chalice before pouring more wine on it. While not a lot at first, the princess nearly slamming the glass once again caused nearly half the drink to spill out from over the edges. Once that was done, he grabbed one of the washcloths and wiped the spilled wine on her side of the table. It would be bad manners to drink on a dirty table. Granted for some reason his glass appeared to have less than it did before, but he let it slide. He was probably just seeing things.

"I apologize once again for the delay," Marianne forced herself to smile as she once again saw the placement of her glass altered and the content filled to the brim again. Why did he keep switching the glass? Did he assume that she wanted to poison him? That was ridiculous, "...Actually, could you close the window now, please? I feel a chill now that the night wind is coming. I'm sorry for troubling you."

"It is no trouble, Princess Marianne," He stood up from his seat and made his way to the windows again. Marianne repeated her actions from earlier, making doubly sure this time to keep the glass in her hand. She didn't want to do any more switcheroo's if she could help it. It would ruin the atmosphere even more. Karin closed the windows and internally sighed as he saw the princess already holding the wine in her hand. Hopefully she didn't decide to throw it against the window if she got irritated.

Marianne forced herself to calm before starting again, "Now then, maybe we-"

"Princess-"

Marianne muttered a quick 'silence' spell, aiming it at the door. The door shook slightly from the knocking, but no sound or voices came from the other side. Karin laughed nervously at her actions, and yet he said nothing. He certainly didn't want to see what would happen if he pointed out that she was acting kind of childish.

"Well then, shall we drink?" Karin nodded and gulped down the wine, noting tiredly that he would have to explain later on what he was doing here and why the princess had cast a...silence...spell...why was everything so blurry? She blinked rapidly and tried to dispel the fog that covered her mind, but it didn't work. Everywhere around her was a haze...except for her... His bleary eyes focused on her and her alone. Every move she did captivated him - The way her fingers moved, how her hair fluttered ever so slightly with every move she did...she was perfect. He didn't know why he was thinking this, but he did. He honestly thought that Princess Marianne was without measure.

"Karin?" Marianne could hardly keep the smile off her face as he finished drinking the wine. What would her knight, she wondered. Ah, perhaps they would hold hands as they strolled the garden under the moonlit night! She nearly squealed in delight at the thought. Or perhaps they would hug in the bed and let sleep take them? Much more boring, but she always wanted to wake up wrapped around the arms of her beloved and seeing his face when she first awoke. Or maybe...even a kiss? Her fingers touched her lips gently. Kisses were common to her, but never on the lips. How would it be like, she wondered. Ah, but she knew that it would be quick, and that was what disappointed her. All the tales she read mentioned it being only a quick peck on the lips and nothing else. But it was a sure sign of affection.

"Karin, is something wrong?" She reached a hand out and touched his ungloved hand directly. Karin shivered at the contact, nearly whimpering as he suddenly felt a shock of giddiness and pleasure at her touch. His mind drifted back to the brother the others had taken him, where the secret the princess would never know was nearly revealed. He recalled the sounds he heard through the walls and what one of them tried to do to him. His closed his eyes, as if he was in pain. He couldn't stop thinking of Princess Marianne, imagining what it would be like if they were in the same positions.

He shook his head roughly. No! She was the future queen of the land and he was a low ranking Chevalier! It would never work! Adding to that, she was still a child! Thirteen years old and barely in her teens. Yes her beauty was often talked about and yes she was mature for her age, but that didn't change the fact that she still had a long life ahead of her. He didn't need to think about her like that, nor the fact that she was fourteen and no one even hesitated to try and take her virginity when she had been dragged to that damnable place. Or about how...how her lips...how she wanted to kiss them so much and never stop...

"Karin- Mmph!" Marianne's eyes widened as Karin all but leapt over the table, knocking over the plates and glasses in the process, and taking her lips in a deep kiss. She struggled briefly before she melted into the gesture. This was...different from what she imagined. She imagined him to proclaim to her his affection and then they would take things slow. He deepened the kiss, and Marianne felt herself go limp in his arms. This wasn't what she expected, but if this was what he wanted then...

...

...She couldn't breath. As glad as she was to realize Karin loved her, it was getting dampened by the fact that her mouth was essentially plugged and her nose seemed to refuse to breath in air due to how unfocused she was. Her hands found themselves pushing at his surprisingly soft chest in an effort to push him away temporarily, only till she got a couple of seconds to breath.

Karin, however, had different ideas. Marianne nearly screamed - or attempt to, given their precarious position - in surprise as she felt something slither its way into her mouth. It took her no time to realize that it was Karin's tongue, which was currently probing her entire mouth and pushing against her own tongue. This was...wrong. Why was he doing this? And yet...the way her heart beat, the feelings of warmth that overtook her chest. This wasn't what she wanted, but she couldn't deny that a part of her enjoyed it.

They stayed that way for a while. How long, neither of them could say. Maybe it had only been a couple of minutes, but maybe it had been hours; it didn't matter in the end. Karin felt the haze weaken as his hand began to try and remove the clothing the princess wore, "Wh-What..." His eyes widened and he removed himself from her. She had lost consciousness not too long ago, no doubt because he, as a wind Mage, had a far higher breathing capacity compared to to others. His expression was a mix of disbelief, pleasure and...horror. Had he actually done that? He looked down at her unconscious body. Damn...he was thinking of doing it again. He wiped away the saliva 'bridging' them and carried her to the bed. No sense in leaving her to the floor.

"No, no, no, no!" Karin clenched his teeth and gripped his hair with both hands, wringing them together. No, it couldn't be that he was...yes he had found the princess charming, but he didn't think of her as a romantic partner...right? He found himself caressing her cheek before he bit his ower lip in frustration. Brimir damn it all, he was going to lose the title he worked so hard to gain if he continued! And not only that, but the princess would be shamed as well. Having a crush on a knight was no big deal, but actually engaging in...acts with him would ruin her reputation.

Especially if people found out 'he' was female. Rumors would spread that she was only interested in the same sex and then Tristain would be stuck in a rut with their only heir being declared unfeasible for possibly even supplying an heir to the throne. He...no, she looked down at the princess sadly. As much as she tried to fight against her set role, she was a princess and she was a Chevalier - It would never work. ...Unless Marianne suddenly decided to run away to Germania or something to earn a title through money for both of them, but she would have to refuse that idea. The princess of Tristain running to that upstart country would be the largest scandal of the decade if not the century.

"...Sweet dreams," She leaned down and kissed Marianne in her forehead. Again she felt the temptation to kiss her on the lips, but she held in the urge. She didn't know why she acted that way, but she definitely needed to keep herself calm. She fixed picked up the broken plates, noting dryly that somehow her glass, still holding a bit of wine, remained standing on the table.

"Need another drink..." She grabbed at her nearly empty glass and drank the remaining wine before making her way past the door. Neither the maid or any guards were there. It was likely that they'd given up after Marianne cast the silence spell. Although she called that sloppy: What if an assassin had broken in and cast a silence spell? Then it would be all their fault if the princess got captured or killed. She muttered the counter spell before leaving the palace.

Perhaps she could see Centurion for some advice. He would know why she was acting like this. She didn't trust herself to guard the princess right now.

Elsewhere, Centurion suddenly felt a chill. Why did he feel like something bad was going to happen? ...Nah, he was just imagining things.

* * *

**Note to Marianne: Love potions are the epitome of 'Be Careful What you Wish For'. Oh, and I likely won't write what happens to Centurion - Unless people really want it; though I kinda doubt it since this story seems to attract people who want yuri/yuri-subtext :p It's easier to guess. Anyway, I have to admit that I have NO idea what to do after this. Shames me to ask, but can I ask for any suggestions anyone might have? And no 'Karin goes Rule of Steel. Bad End.' suggestions, please.**

**Mizuki00 - They're not translated. There's a good summary in the 'Back to Basics #5' thread on spacebattles. Just look it up and there should be a link to the summaries in the table of contents.  
**


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